"Perhaps the biggest waste of resources in all of state
government is the over-incarceration of non-violent offenders," Price
said.

Price said the number of non-violent offenders in Missouri prisons,
most of them drug abusers, has doubled since 1994. He said the cost to
taxpayers is more than $233 million a year. At the same time, the drug
court approach to treatment and rehabilitation boasts high graduation
rates and low recidivism.

The judge also encouraged lawmakers to reject efforts to change Missouri's non-partisan court plan that calls for for judges in St. Louis, Kansas City and elsewhere to run for office.

"Any change that moves the Missouri plan close to politics,
special interests, or money is a change in the wrong direction," Price said